First Time Cruiser-? about mock reservation

[spring162]

Hello everyone, I am planning my family's first cruise. I have been lurking here for awhile and have learned alot. Earlier I was on a thread about getting price adjustments after booking and I noticed alot of people said they kept track by doing a mock reservation. They also seemed to know how well their cruise was selling. Since I am trying to plan a trip with 15 others I decided to give the mock reservation a try to see about how well it was selling. Here is my question- when I did the mock, when I picked interior room they would give me 4 rooms or so to choose from on one deck. :confused: Does this mean all the other interior rooms on that deck are already sold? I am trying for the 6/14/09 sailing on FOS for the eastern caribbean. If it is true that all the other rooms are already booked we are doomed since the lot of us need rooms that connect and have 3 beds in one. Ugh. I thought I was far enough in advance. I hope its not too late. :(

[Havana Daydreamin]

Hello everyone, I am planning my family's first cruise. I have been lurking here for awhile and have learned alot. Earlier I was on a thread about getting price adjustments after booking and I noticed alot of people said they kept track by doing a mock reservation. They also seemed to know how well their cruise was selling. Since I am trying to plan a trip with 15 others I decided to give the mock reservation a try to see about how well it was selling. Here is my question- when I did the mock, when I picked interior room they would give me 4 rooms or so to choose from on one deck. :confused: Does this mean all the other interior rooms on that deck are already sold? I am trying for the 6/14/09 sailing on FOS for the eastern caribbean. If it is true that all the other rooms are already booked we are doomed since the lot of us need rooms that connect and have 3 beds in one. Ugh. I thought I was far enough in advance. I hope its not too late. :(

 

No there are more rooms than the four that are shown available, but the website usually only shows a few. Sometimes, I clear my cache and go in and repeat the mock reservation and find new ones listed, but it will still only be a handful.

[Merion_Mom]

Generally speaking, the maximum number of cabins that RC's website will show on one tab is FIVE.

 

That may mean that there are only five, or that there are more.

 

GENERALLY, if there are four or fewer showing on that tab, that's all there are.

 

But not necessarily.

 

Confused? Good. Royal's website is very confusing and inconsistent.

 

What you need to do is CALL RC at 800-859-7225 and speak to a CVP. S/He can tell you all the available cabins in any given category.

[aloha of the seas]

I use the site to get an idea of where certain cabins are located and what they look like. I usually have it up when I call in so I can see where the available cabins are located. A little advice. From my experience I like to be on a certain side of the ship depending on the ships itinerary. You can look at the itinerary on the website and see if you want to be on the port(left) or starboard(right) side of the ship. Coastal views usually make the decision. Good Sailing, Murf

[My2Kitties]

If you are booking for 16 people then you would be better off contacting a TA and do a group cruise...group all the cabins together and you might get a better price...and the cabins you want...

[jimsig]

I have noticed that if you try and book on a site other then RC's own that you can see other/more cabins. I am doing a mock booking right now on RC's web site for a cruise that leave in about 3 weeks. It shows 6 cabins available in Cat F1 all on deck 7. On the other site they are showing 15 cabins total, 9 on deck 7, 2 on deck 6, and 4 on deck 5.

 

Hope that helps

[tomko2]

With a group that large and the some specific room occupancy requirements, your best bet is to work with a TA. Documentation for all parties, special requirements, deposits, cancellations, insurance, flights (if needed), etc. would make this a daunting task for most of us.

I had a quick look at the timelines you mentioned and do see that some categories are already sold out so I would move quickly.

Good luck and happy cruising.

Kathy:)

[spring162]

I am definitley going to use a TA but I was mostly using the Mock reservation to see if the cruise was selling as some had suggested I could. So is there a way for the normal guy to see if some cabin types are sold out or only the TA can do that??? Thanks for all the info.

[silentbob007]

The ones that are sold out won't be available at all if you acted like you were going to book. If you need connecting rooms and rooms for 3, you'd better book sooner rather than later. That's at the start of the summer season when more families are trying to cruise, putting those specific rooms at a premium.